Smoke and Steel
by WaggleDaggers
Summary: Felix's heart is hardened by war. It may take the heat of a Crimson Flower to melt it...
1. Chapter 1

"Your Majesty, I must ask that you sit still." Felix delivered the line in monotone, but Emperor Edelgard could not help but hear some jest in it. He was sitting no more than five feet away from her, hunched over a worktable, meticulously carving. A thumb-sized wooden disk lay on the table, halfway carved with a depiction of Edelgard's profile. The disk was slowly becoming the mold that the new empire would use to mint coins. It had been Hubert's idea.

"A strong empire requires strong coinage" He had said. "Each buyer and seller will be reminded every time they reach into their purse that you are their savior."

Edelgard was not enthused. She did not like the idea of her cold, dead eyes staring at each of her subjects from their pockets and their coffers. But what she liked was rarely, if ever, taken into account. Felix Fraldarius, drawn to sympathy for the empire by the Professor, had just finished designing and forging the ceremonial swords that Edelgard and Ferdinand currently wore at their waists. Hubert decided these skills warranted another commission.

After being scolded like a schoolchild, the Emperor re-straightened her back, furrowed her brow, and again began to count prime numbers. The count always got hazy eventually, usually in the five-hundreds, but that was part of the trick. During her childhood, Edelgard was trained to be a perfect little princess. She was told to say 'please' and 'thank you'. Her napkin was always precisely folded in her lap. Her consonants were crisp and flawlessly enunciated. And, as always, her posture was as stone as statue. She had learned quickly at dinners where her father had droned on about policies and taxes that counting prime numbers was a mental distraction that required enough focus that her brain simply did not have the time to recall how much more comfortable it was to slouch. She had used the trick for the majority of her life, and she was determined it would not fail her now.

Felix squinted at his work, scowling. He turned his head up again. He studied Edelgard closely, meticulously. She found herself frustratingly uncomfortable at his gaze. She was haunted by his eyes.

Felix, in exchange for his services, did not ask for money, power, or position. He asked only that he be allowed to spar with the Emperor whenever she could make time. Hubert had laughed at the suggestion, but Edelgard had accepted. She found Felix a strong and dangerous opponent. His swordplay and hand-to-hand combat skills rivaled that of her most skilled generals. However, she had recently taken a dislike to their sessions. It had to do with the way Felix looked at her.

_Never meet your opponent's eyes in battle._ She remembered the maxim well, pounded into her brain by her dueling instructor. _Doing so can cause a breath of humanity to enter you. You may feel pity or disgust. Or fear. This split moment is all a skilled opponents needs to kill you._

Edelgard had made the mistake of looking right into those brown-gold eyes. And she did not see anything staring back at her. It was like she, Edelgard Von Hresvelg, emperor of all she could survey, was nothing more than a piece of meat. It was the first time Felix won one of their bouts. He had won many times since.

Currently, those dark eyes scoured Edelgard's face, finding the line and curve of her profile. The Adrestian emperor found beads of sweat forming on her face. She forced herself to blink, and began to recite primes again.

Felix sighed. "Not good enough." He said, setting down his tools. He stood from the workbench and crossed in front of hit. Hand on his chin, he was studying Edelgard from mere inches away. She could feel his breath on her cheek.

She found herself shaking, and realized she had been holding her breath since he had spoken. She saw grey forming at the edges of her vision.

"Felix!" She suddenly said, much too loudly. "I'm sure the current mint is fine. Detail will be lost in casting after all, there is no need for perfection."

Felix did not move. He continued to stare at her. She swung her legs to the side and stood awkwardly, so as to avoid touching him.

"If that is what you desire, Your Majesty."

Edelgard nodded. "Yes, that is fine. Thank you, Felix."

The man with dark hair and empty eyes bowed, and took his leave.

Once out of earshot, Edelgard smacked her hand onto her face, harder than she had intended. It stung. She thought it so foolish, that she should feel nervous like a maiden at the very presence of one of her allies. Still, her back felt wet, and her hands shook faintly for minutes.


	2. Chapter 2

"Do you know what this is?" Hubert said, hand extended, holding the blade of a dagger.

Several days had passed. Felix stood in one of the castle's halls, lit extravagantly by the setting sun through stained windows, as Hubert held out an ornate red dagger to him. The pommel of the weapon was a glass bead, and a chip of sapphire floated within.

"No." Felix lied. He had seen a weapon like it once before, on the black market.

"It's a smokesword." Hubert said. He gestured the handle towards Felix, who took the blade. "The moment the blade touches blood, it will dissolve into a black smoke. It is impossible to do real harm with it. Can you tell me, oh savant of mortals, what the use of such a weapon might be?"

Felix took a few swings with the weapon. It was beautifully designed, though would likely chip and break in a real battle. It rested nicely in his palm. "Let me guess."

Hubert raised an eyebrow. He had intended the question to be rhetorical, or at least unanswerable.

"You sell them. On the black market. You ship them overseas to the Kingdom as 'empire weapons' and when you fight, you watch as their blades turn to ash in their hands. Then you kill them."

Hubert chuckled. A coarse sound. "Very good, but smokeswords are far too expensive for mass manufacturing. Only dark magic can turn steel so easily into smoke."

"Alright then, what's it for?"

"Attempted assassination."

Felix stared.

"It will be a test of sorts." Hubert continued, resting his hand on his chin. "A test of our security. You will take this smokesword, and use it to assassinate the emperor."

"And it will do no harm to her?"

"None but a surface scratch."

Felix pondered for a moment. "Is she aware of this 'test'?"

"Absolutely not. And you must not tell her yourself. Part of the experiment is seeing if one of our own could bypass our defences on account of Her Majesty's trust in them. You have such trust."

"I do?"  
"The emperor would not spar with one she did not believe would stop the bout _before _ramming the sword through her throat."

Felix looked down at the blade he held. Just a test.

"When you draw blood, the Warp gem in the pommel of the sword will summon me to your location immediately, so that I can explain the situation to Her Majesty and make sure she does not kill you. Then we can debrief."

"You've been busy Hubert."

"I'm always busy. Do you accept?"

"Yes."

"Of course you do." Hubert whirled, black cape billowing behind him as he left Felix standing, thinking.


	3. Chapter 3

Felix held one of the newly minted coins up to the moonlight, and studied the depiction of Edelgard's face. She was beautiful, even in cold metal, and Felix was dimly aware that this fact had no effect on him. His mind did not bother searching for the reason why. He was standing in the gazebo-like belltower of Garreg Mach monastery, elbows leaning on the stone railing. It was deep into the night, and Felix was waiting for this hour's guard to pass. The smokesword pressed painfully into his ankle from its hidden place in his boot. He had been planning for days, watching which hallways echoed through which doors, what guards nodded off at which times, and which window balcony had the smallest chance of breaking his ankles, should he jump down to it. A small clanking faded into Felix's hearing as the guard ascended the belltower.

Felix continued to stare out at the moon, and did not turn when the guard spoke to him.

"Excuse me, you can't be up here. You're going to have to come with me."

"..."

"Are you deaf? I said you're going to come with me."

Felix knew this guard well. He was a gatekeeper during the day, and the gruffness in his voice at night was all an act. "You would deny a knight his only moments of peace?" Felix said.

"What?"

Felix hung his head, sighing. "I watch the moon, aloof in its place in the sky, to avoid thinking about what I've done here on earth. The belltower is quiet during the late hours. Here is where I find peace."

"I… Well…" The guard stuttered. He looked over the warrior's strong body, and saw no pack or sheath that could contain anything dangerous. He was only wearing a white buttoned shirt and dark training pants. "I suppose you can remain here for a bit longer. However, when I return from another check of the cathedral I must insist that you move yourself."

"That is… Acceptable." Felix said.

The guard nodded. He attempted to make it look stern, but his oversized helmet clanked against the back of his breastplate as he did so, and he jumped ever so slightly. He hoped the knight did not notice, and walked back down the stairs to the belly of the cathedral.

Knowing now the guard would not return for some time, Felix began to unbutton his shirt, and produced the length of rope he had hidden beneath. The guard hadn't bothered to check his front. He tied it off to the balcony railing and threw it down the length of the belltower. It hung above the garden balcony. He took a deep breath of the void, threw his feet over the side, and climbed determinedly. His hands were raw by the time he reached the bottom. His legs strained with the effort, but they did not shake. Felix's body was toned and hardened by years of fighting and training. He stood before the door to Her Majesty's room and pulled the smokesword from his boot. The door opened silently. He had greased it himself, hours earlier, under the guise of wishing to meditate in the garden terrace.

He stepped inside. Moonlight shone through the windows, onto Felix's back. A cross of shadow, cut by the panes of the window, fell over the bed. The Emperor slept, quilts tucked to her neck. Her hair seemed indistinguishable from the moonlight, looking, to the pious, much like a holy nimbus. Her face was profile to him. He had studied that profile with great care, but in that moment he realized he still had not captured it perfectly. In the line of the Emperor's neck, just below the mandible, there was a tiny scar burned into her flesh, one Felix could not have noticed, save for the deep and slow breathing of dreams.

He walked up to the bed in silent steps, smokesword drawn. The Emperor was laying on her side, and Felix could see the shape of her form in the way the quilt fell. She lay in the fetal position, hands tucked between her breasts, knees touching her elbows. It was a safe way to sleep. A frightened way to sleep. Felix felt a sharp something but he was not sure what it was.

He dared not move the blankets for fear of waking her. He positioned the blade just above the cross of her arms, pointing down towards her heart. He pushed slowly, the tip depressing the quilt until it met her flesh. More pressure, and it separated the tiny fibers of the blanket. As the Emperor drew in a breath, Felix tightened his arm and thrust.

As the blade pierced quilt and skin, it burst into black smoke, instantly coating the room in a dark haze. At the same instant, Edelgard's eyes snapped open, she drew a short knife from under her pillow, and swiped at Felix. Startled, he raised the empty hilt of the dagger to block, and Edelgard's knife shattered the pommel of the smokesword. Felix stepped back into a hand-to-hand stance. The sword's smoke filled the air and began to burn Felix's eyes. The sapphire began to glow blue from the floor nearby, but whatever magic was once inside it was broken. Hubert would not be coming. No one to ease the tension. No one to explain the situation. Felix was alone.


	4. Chapter 4

"F-Felix?" Edelgard was holding the knife at arm's length, pointed at his throat. She slid her legs from under her quilts to the floor. Felix backed away as she stood, sheets falling away from her body. The Emperor slept naked. Her pale, taut form stood shaking before him. The knife shone white-hot with moonlight. Sweat beaded on her forehead and her chest. She was breathing heavily.

"Emperor Edelgard, I can explain-" Felix began.

"You… An assassin?" A black anger crossed Edelgard's face. Her lips peeled back into a snarl.

"It's only a test Your Majesty." Felix stepped further backwards.

"What? Do you mock me?"  
"No, Your Majesty, Hubert sent me. A fake assassination to determine weaknesses in our defenses."

"You do mock me!"

"Your Majesty, look at your-"

She lunged at him, swiping past his face and abdomen, chasing him back to the door of the bedroom. Her stance was low and tense. Felix was breathing slowly to keep his heart rate down, but as he brought his fists up to prepare for a fight, his eyes locked with Edelgard's. He saw, under the layer of anger… Desire?

A single synapse fired. It traced a line through memory and feeling, all the way back to opening convocation at Garreg Mach. The House Leaders had already been selected, and they were to give speeches commemorating the beginning of their journey with their housemates. Edelgard had stood at the podium with such poise. Her speech was crisp and to-the-point. Her sharp, bright intelligence set to propel her to a golden future. Felix was begrudgingly, totally in love. His place in the Blue Lion house was to keep him from distractions. He had only dared to join the Black Eagles after his desire to spar with the Professor had outgrown his embarrassment at his feelings toward Edelgard. Once she ascended to the throne, however, she became untouchable. She was no longer mortal, and so Felix could focus on getting stronger without a distraction. Specifically, the distraction his Emperor just rekindled in his heart like an explosion.

He hesitated, Edelgard attacked. She caught his cheek, and drew blood. He swerved away just in time, catching her arm in a vice grip.

"Your Majesty please! Look at your wound!" He hissed, holding her knife arm against his chest.

Edelgard looked down. Just above her left breast was a tiny pinprick, a jewel of moonlit blood had already formed. She stared at it.

"You drew royal blood!"

"A real sword would've drawn more."

"A real sword?" The Emperor looked right at Felix.

"Fake sword, fake assassination. I would never turn my blade against you Your Majesty. Please, please believe me." Felix loosened his grip and lowered his head.

The dagger slipped from Edelgard's fingers and clattered to the floor. Her knees shook and she wrapped her arms around herself. She was crying.

"I… I was so frightened."

Felix stepped closer to his Emperor. "Your Majesty… You're shaking…"

"Don't look at me." She turned her face away. Her hair, unrestrained by crowns, fell to cover her cheeks.

Felix stepped again closer, reaching his hand out to brush the hair from her face. She looked up at him, eyes wide.

"How can one such as you feel fear?" He said.

"One such as me?" Edelgard's heart was pounding, lips parted as she stood cowering under Felix's hard gaze.

He ran his hand down Edelgard's cheek and onto her chest. His finger found the pearl of blood just below her clavicle. He pressed his finger against the tiny wound. Edelgard winced.

"You have flesh…" He whispered, hand brushing against her breast.

"What did you expect to find?"

"More armor."

Tears stung Edelgard's eyes. "Felix… There is always weakness hiding underneath armor." Her fingers found the hem of his shirt. She tugged at it. "Be weak with me."

His face was inches from her's now. She could feel his every breath. "Is that an order, Your Majesty?" He said.

"Yes."

They kissed, furious moonlight burning their backs, armor falling away leaving only their hearts.

Beating hearts. Smoke and Steel. Pulse and haze.


End file.
